Russian River Mortification

Brewed by Russian River Brewing
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Santa Rosa, California USA

Draft. Mahogony beer with an off-white head. Malt, yeast, and dried fruit aroma. Rich malt flavor with fig/plums, light yeast, cherry, and light cocoa. medium-plus bodied. Rich malt lingers with light dried fruit, cherry, and some darker malts. Very easy drinking for the alcohol in there.

On tap @ the brewpub. Clear brown copper with a one finger beige head, fading to a ring and tattered film before long. Belgian yeast up front with lots of dried fruits--raisins, figs, apricots--and some scorched caramel. Light earth in the background.Pretty durn sweet thus far. The flavor adds some spicy alcohol and hops to help dry everything out--I was worried for a moment. Surprisingly finishes semi-dry--hooray for an American brewery not making their interpretation of a quad an effing sweet mess! Earthy bitterness peaked around a 3. This does not taste 11% from the ETOH burn, though it is syrupy thick. Low carbonation. I had a sample of this before they officially released it @ the brewpub and wasn’t very impressed. With a full tulip, I am--though I dunno how many of these I could actually drink in one sitting.

Tap at Toronado SD. This was huge and bold but overall rather syruppy and somewhat un-Belgian. Have seen this called a Barleywine for intuitive reason. Dark ruby brown, aroma of sweet malt, maple, sharp hop. Flavor is dark cherry juice, candy sugar, more sharp hop. Really quite independent where flavors are concerned, while I prefer a more married flavor, especially from Russian River.

on tap at toronado san diego for their russian river celebration. rather interesting smoked malts/porter quality to it.

On tap @ Toronado San Diego. Pours a lightly hazed deep brown with a 2 finger beige head. Nose of candied dark fruits (raisins, figs, plums). Sweet malts as well. Flavor was also malty and quite sweet.

On tap. Dark, redddish brown color with a light tan head. Aroma of sweet malt, yeast, fruit, and banana. Nice. Flavor is also sweet and fruity. Alcohol was pretty well hidden. Pretty nice flavor that was balanced with some floral elements. Good stuff.

Tap at Toronado San Diego, glad to have this and not have to wait for a potential eventual bottle, thanks wetherel for clueing me on this. Pours deep reddish brown with a nice stable tan head. Nose is sweet with a bunch of rasainny goodness but also a nice kick of bitterness, possible a touch of hops. Taste is sweet, with a nice raisin feeling. The taste also has a liquory kick but I find that overall feel doesn’t feel too hot. Overall I have to say I like this quite a lot.

On Tap Toronado SD, Lots of carbination with a swirl, all the way till the end. Great aroma, woody, some sweet raisiny-ness and with a nice finish, minerals and acidity keep it from being too sweet. Winter warmer great for a cold night, nice quad / barley wine and easy to drink for the style.